Rating and Stats

Document Actions

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Description: ABSTRACT
So far orthodox scholarship of the stećak monolithic stones has attempted to situate the architectural, artistic and religious phenomenon of these monuments in only three different cont...

ABSTRACT
So far orthodox scholarship of the stećak monolithic stones has attempted to situate the architectural, artistic and religious phenomenon of these monuments in only three different contexts: Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism (Bosnian Church), the heretic Bogomil doctrine, and remnants of pagan beliefs of unknown origin. According to academic scholarship, the historical origin of stećaks has been proposed exclusively as mediaeval.
The intent of this paper is to demonstrate that the architectural, artistic and religious expressions of the stećaks are deeply rooted in a millennia-old tradition belonging to the Old European culture. This will lead us to the identification of the “True Spirit” of these sacred stone monuments, allowing us to rejoin them with their ancestral origin.

The Ancestral Origin of Stećaks

A Study by Nenad M. Djurdjević

ABSTRACT: So far orthodox scholarship of the stećak monolithic stones has attempted to situate the architectural, artistic and religious phenomenon of these monuments in only three different contexts: Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism (Bosnian Church), the heretic Bogomil doctrine, and remnants of pagan beliefs of unknown origin. According to academic scholarship, the historical origin of stećaks has been proposed exclusively as mediaeval. The intent of this paper is to demonstrate that the architectural, artistic and religious expressions of the stećaks are deeply rooted in a millennia-old tradition belonging to the Old European culture. This will lead us to the identification of the “True Spirit” of these sacred stone monuments, allowing us to rejoin them with their ancestral origin.

Introduction
Stećaks, or stećci, is merely a convenient term to denote monolithic stones found in present days throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and in parts of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. The name stećak comes from the present participle of the verb stajati, to stand - stojeći, and is most commonly used in reference works deriving from the assumption that they were exclusively designed during the mediaeval period to stand over graves as religious monuments (tombstones). However, in the absence of a sufficient number of reliable written sources, as well as contradictory archaeological and scientific evidence, the origin and purpose of stećaks remains subjected to questioning.

Stećaks fall into two main groups, recumbent and upright or standing stone monoliths. They can be found in the form of an ordinary flat or roughly shaped slab 10, chest/coffin13, gabled sarcophaguslike monolith in the shape of an elongated pentagon16, pillar (obelisk4,5 or nišan), stele1 (Wenzel M. – Ukrasni motivi na stećcima - Table XLV). Stećaks are mostly made of limestone, sandstone, granite and, in particular circumstances, of different types on conglomerate.

Over sixty thousand of the seventy thousand recorded stećaks are found at more than three thousand known sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the remaining number is proportionally divided between Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. These numbers are an estimate, because different sources suggest that during the past decades and centuries a significant number of stećaks was destroyed. However, new locations with stećaks are discovered yearly, and the aforementioned numbers will likely rise in the future.

▲ Stećaks are mostly found in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. Although the most proposed theory ascribes the authorship of stećaks to the Bogomil social-religious movement, these monuments are not found where this doctrine originated and was mainly preached, namely, Bulgaria and Macedonia.

Sanctuaries and Votive Stećaks of Old Europe (7.000-3.500 B.C.E.)
One of the most exciting discoveries made in the prehistoric society contexts of Old Europe are hundreds of miniature clay models of houses, sanctuaries, shrines, temples and tablets produced throughout the Neolithic-Chalcolithic period. These artifacts are particularly important, because they present details of architecture, decoration and furnishing that are otherwise unavailable to the prehistoric archaeologist and scholar. Archaeological evidence suggests that these objects were used in sacrifical ceremonies as votive objects to celebrate the erection of a structure. Several examples of clay models were discovered in such a context beloning to the Starčevo culture, distributed in south-west Hungary, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. In terms of absolute chronology, the Starčevo culture can be dated from 6.200 B.C.E. to about 5.500 B.C.E. (Schubert 1999).
► Votive temple, terracotta, discovered at the site of Mala Trnska Tumba, (Pelagonia), Middle Neolithic, Porodin Culture, 6th millennium B.C.E. Bitola Velušina-

The term “eternal abode”, however, seems to express more than any other the millennia old concept of religious beliefs closely related with funerary practices of Old European culture. Archaeological evidence has shown that during the Early Neolithic, particularly in the Balkans, women, children, and youths were buried under house floors and between buildings. Habitation areas functioned as realms of the ancestors, as well as of the living, in which the sacred bond between women and their children was preserved even after death. Lithuanian archaeologist Marija Gimbutas theorizes that women and children were associated with hearth and home, and so they would be buried beneath it as an act of connecting their bodies to the home, their “eternal abode”.

The model of a sanctuary found in Cāscioarele is not unique. Within the area of distribution of the East Balkan civilization many fragments of similar models, usually smaller, have been known for long time. Miniature clay models of sanctuaries found in Moldavia and Ukraine belonging to Cucuteni-Tripolye culture are known since the beginning of the twentieth century.
◄ Clay model of a sanctuary, Cucuteni-Tripolye culture, 5th millennium B.C.E. (Ursulescu N. 2006, p. 132)

The small clay model, usually interpreted as a building resting on piles, is by analogy very similar to other sanctuary models presented in this paper. It may be assumed that the presence of these supports is meant to stress the importance of the sanctuary's elevation above the ground. In the site of Ruse, Bulgaria, a 'two-storey house' very similar to that of Cāscioarele was discovered, together with several miniature clay models of temples with wide-arched portals standing on terraced stereobates. Architectural remains of these clay models were also found in Izvoarele, Romania, as well in the site of Krannon-Duraki, Thessaly, Greece.

▲ Stećak on a stereobate, Bosnia.

▲ Clay model of a temple on a stereobate, Izvoaerele, Romania, East Balkan civilization, Copper Age approx. 4.500 B.C.E.

▲ Stećaks on a stereobate with frontal and lateral cut-outs, Bistrica, Bosnia & Herzegovina, show similar structure of Old European votive temple models. ▼ Clay model of a house (left), and a temple on a stereobate (right). Gumelniţa culture, Romania 5th millennium B.C.E. (cIMeC 1996-2012)

As in any other example of architectural development through time, the evolution of sacred structures and their miniature reproductions goes through several stages. Here below are presented few examples, from most basic and abstract form, to more sophisticated and rationalized ones.

▲ example of a sanctuary model made of clay in its most basic form, Gumelniţa culture, Romania, 5th millennium B.C.E. (cIMeC 1996-2012) ▼ (left) one of the basic form of stećaks, with frontal cut-out, shows an identical form of Old European sanctuary model in its most basic form; Livno, Miši village, Rešetarica locality, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

▲ Clay model of a sanctuary in the shape of elongated pentagon with decorated borders, Gumelniţa culture, Romania 5th millennium B.C.E. (cIMeC 1996-2012) ▼ Example of a stećak, Bosnia and Herzegovina, shows a very similar structure as the example of Old European votive sanctuary above. Rope-like decoration on the borders is a common feature in both stećaks and Old European sanctuary models.

▲ Clay model of a sanctuary in the shape of a pentagon with holes and a gable/knob, Gumelniţa culture, Romania 5th millennium B.C. E. (cIMeC 1996-2012) ▼ Example of a stećak in the shape of a pentagon decorated with a knob (serbo-croatian jabuka, apple).

The evolution and survival of the spiral symbol can be observed in the given examples.

▲ Clay model of a snake, KGK VI, 4.100 B.C.E

▲ The Egyptian Mehen, 275 B.C.E ◄ Bosnian pita: snake or spiral? 2012

In Old Europe the earliest primeval element of the universe was conceived as water, and the mythical water snake was considered a vehicle of an energy that had its source in water. The presence of the Snake Goddess is felt everywhere – on earth and in the sky. In the Old Kingdom of Egypt and in predynastic literature, Mehen, along with Seth in his original form, fights Apep daily as the sun travels across the sky. Mehen wraps his coils around Apep, while Seth strikes at Apep with a spear. At the dawn of the Egyptian culture, Mehen even lent his name and his shape to a gameboard, in the form of a coiled serpent. In Bosnia and other regions of the Balkan peninsula that once were part of the Old European continent the coiled serpent survived by camouflaging itself in culinary tradition. Interestingly, the word pita seems to come from the Sanskrit word pitā – father. In the Vedas the coiled serpent is associated with the Kundalini force, sleeping like a coiled serpent, the primordial cosmic energy.

As previously mentioned, in Old Europe the bull's head and horns as well as rams were strongly associated with sanctuaries, temples and shrines. The same symbolism can be found in Anatolia, Minoan islands, and the near East. The bull and the ram where also initmately associated in ancient Egypt with the worship of sun deities. Old European cultures situated this image particularly above sanctuary entrances, as well within megalithic tombs in the form of horns or hooks sculpted in relief.

▲ Reconstruciton of a sanctuary with a gable roof in its simplest form at Vinča site Kormadin, Serbia, 5th millennium B.C.E. The entrance, as well central part of the sanctuary is dominated by the image of the bull (bucranium). (Ursulescu N. – 2006, p. 86)

The rosette is another symbol identified with bull's horns, because of its analogy with the flowerlike ends of the fallopian tubes, and therefore appears consinstently associated with tombs and the goddess' womb, with death and regeneration. In the symbolic language of Old Europe the horns are represented in the abstract with a crescent moon as well, as a U-sign indicating the bucranium. Artifacts associated with the cult of the bull were found at the Neolithic sites of Vučedol (Croatia), Vinča (Serbia), and Butmir (Bosnia) etc. It should therefore come as no surprise that the same religious imagery is often encountered on the stećak monolithic monuments.

► Drawing from basrelief of a shrine in Çatal Hüyük, Anatolia, 7th millennium B.C.E. Actual skull plates with attached horns are embedded into a pointed arch. (Mellart J., 1967) ◄ Example of a stećak with a pointed top in Brotnice, Konavle region, Croatia. The frontal side of the monolithic monument is decorated with a deity bearing large rams' horns, rosette, and a crescent.

The crescent, rosette, and various forms of horn symbolism appear very frequently in almost all geographic areas involved in the stećak phenomenon. In some cases, the crescent has been generally associated with Islam. However, this possibility can be taken into consideration only on Islamic-type stelae found on the Bosnian territory. But also in that case, it should be taken into consideration that the symbol of the star and crescent are a common feature of Sumerian iconography.
► Altar (Tophet) representing symbols of the Carthaginian and Phoenician moon goddess Tanit, the consort of the sun god Ba'al.

The given evidence clearly demonstrates that there's a millenniaold inseparable relationship between Old European sanctuaries, stećaks and other similar monuments based on common architectural, artistic and religious concepts. In this context, additional evidence will be presented in order to provide a deeper, better, and richer understanding of the significance and importance of Old European culture and the stećak phenomenon.

Whenever a research on various prehistoric sites has been carried out, findings of alleged non‐ utility comprise a considerably large share of the overall objects discovered. Such objects are mostly made of ceramics and end up in museums in unlclassified piles. Not rarely some of them are exhibited to the public without proper scientific classification (i.e. votive pyramids). Among the findings generally different in terms of form, purpose and significance, one small group of objects is comparatively unexplored and extremely important for our study on the origin of stećaks. The group of objects comprises an important number of ceramic tablets of polygonal and pentagonal shape interpreted often as "altars", due to their resemblance of the pediment building facade. Up to now there is no typology published regarding such objects except for several preliminary studies. However, these artifacts might shed some light on the better understanding of unique characteristics present in stećaks.
a b c

These two small ancient bronze coffins once contained the mummified remains of a sacred snake and lizard and were intended as votive offerings. The cobra headed goddess Wadjet was traditionally associated with lower Egypt and had many temples dedicated to her. Lizards in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs were the sign that meant 'many' and thus came to symbolise wealth and prosperity. It should be remembered that the serpent is found depicted in several artistic styles also on stećaks. Chevrons, spirals and caterpillars are found in the same context.
▼ fallen stećak; decorated laterally with double-chevron motif.

▲ Example of stećak decorated frontally with single and double spirals, incised lines on the border, exactly as examples of Eneolithic tablets and altars previously shown. ▼ Parallelebipedal stećaks, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The aforementioned examples of clay tablets and altars from the sites of Gradeschnitsa and Ocharovo are not the only ones. In Bulgaria many other clay tablets were recovered from the Eneolithic layers of archaeological sites like Ruse tell, Kodjadermen tell, and Sultan tell. The formal typology of all objects include mainly tablets of pentagonal, quadrangular and oval forms. Many of these objects have ornamental motifs such as vertical and horizontal fields, dots, spirals, meanders, concentric circles as a central motif etc. These votive objects and the fact that they have been discovered in the same area and context as other cultic artifacts (i.e. Ovcharovo cult scene) are evidence that these objects are in relation with ancient religious ceremonies. From a range of sources it can be suggested that the ornamental compositions on the ceramic tablets are in fact symbols related to the concept of fertility and most probably used in ancient rituals dedicated to the Mother Goddess. Interestingly, all these votive tablets and altars seem to represent a twodimensional mirror basic image of the much more sophisticated forms of the stećaks. Since an overall presentation of all artifacts would require and deserve much more space, only few examples will be presented here.

▲ Example of stećak with rich, elaborate top decoration, Olovo region, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this particular example the rosette represents an elaborate evolution of the most simple form of proto-swastika and spiral symbolism.

The evidence presented so far based on observations of architectural, artistic and religious elements has clearly shown that prehistoric votive objects in the form of miniature models of structures, tablets and altars of parallelepipedal and pentagonal form found in Old European culture resemble very much the most common recumbent forms of stećaks: - that of rectangular or parallelepidal slabs, chests or coffins, and gabled monoliths in the shape of elongated pentagons. Throughout many ancient cultures the pentagon is considered a symbol of divine order, and has been associated with a single or double spiral and with infinity. Votive objects of Old European culture and monolithic stećak stones found in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the neighbouring countries are often decorated with layered chevron and spiraling key patterns, which are protoswastika symbols, used to mark sacred sites and objects of high religious and cultural significance. In the same context, I will provide even more evidence that strongly supports the notion that the ancestral origin of stećaks lies in the borderless world of Old Europe.

As previously explained the cosmologial concept for horizon is deeply rooted in millenia-old tradition of Old European culture. The pentagonal altar depicting the sun rising between two mountain peaks and descending into the underworld dominated by a stylized snake are the exclusive prerogative of societies steeped in pyramid culture. This shattering evidence establishes a direct link not only between Old European artifacts and the stećaks, but also between stećaks and, it must be pointed out, the Bosnian pyramid phenomenon. This hypothesis, however, is further proved by stećak monuments embedded with the symbol for horizon, as well other prehistoric artifacts.

▲ Two examples of stećaks: a stele and a recumbent monolithic stone in the shape of a pentagon decorated both with the Old European symbol for “Horizon”, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The pictures above are related to a stele in Biljeg, and a stećak in Rogatica. Both monolithic stones are characterized by the ornamental symbol for horizon, exactly as the monuments of Egypt. The Old European and Bosnian concept of the "Soul" represented by the "Horizon" embedded into a "Pentagon" are a direct reflection of the Egyptian concept of the five parts of man, related to the human being as made up of five different elements; the Ba, the Ka, the Akh, the Ren and Shwt. A better understanding of the men will be provided later by the elements (Fire, Air, Water, Earth), sacred concept of the five parts of ancient Greek esoteric doctrine of the and the doctrine of transmigration.

Beside the symbol for horizon, also the symbol referable to the concept of a multi-layered universe has been embedded in stone by Old European culture. Like in other pyramid cultures the people of Old Europe pictured a universe consisting of heavens above and underworlds below, with the human world interposed between. The heavens consisted of different layers stacked above the earth, and the earth rested on the back of a serpent floating in the primordial ocean. Linking the three realms was a giant pyramid whose base was anchored to the underworld, while its peak stretched to the heavens. The gods and the souls of the dead traveled between these worlds along this imaginary Tree of Life, called by the Mayas Ceiba and by the Egyptians Tamarisk. The Tree of Life grew out of the Sacred Mound (The Pyramid).
◄ Late Chalcolithic pectoral (amulet), Kodjadermen, Gumelniţa, Karanovo IV, Bulgaria, between 7.000 – 3.500 B.C.E. (The Rousse Regional Museum of History)

This artifact as many other of such kind has been recovered only recently from unclassified piles of a museum. The pectoral displays a pyramid whose base is rooted deep in the river of souls, while its peak reach for the heavens. Since there is no two without three, we find the same symbol in dozen examples and various artistic expressions embedded on stećaks. The symbol of a double spiral with a single stem from which double volutes branch, is also the most common spiral motif found on stećaks (Wenzel M. - Ukrasni motivi na stećcima - p. 178 ~ 199).
► Example of a stećak from Brajinci, Šekovići, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This example represents the final proof that the origin of pagan symbols encountered on the stećak monuments has originated in the millennia-old tradition of Old Europe and, it is worthy to say, that the spirit of a pyramid culture is inseparably merged in the architectural layout of stećaks. More examples are presented on the next page (Wenzel M. – Ukrasni motivi na stećcima - p. 199).

▲ Example of a pillar crowned with a truncated pyramid, Serbia; votive pyramid from Visoko. ►

The truncated pyramid situated at the top of the pillar and examples of votive pyramids given in this page have the same shape and are associated with a chevron pattern (the symbol of water). It means that all two-dimensional as well three-dimensional representations of triangles/pyramids associated with a zigzag pattern represent the same spiritual concept. I think I may have arrived at a point where no further evidence is needed to prove a common ancestral origin and inseparable link between Old European sanctuaries, the stećak phenomenon, and the pyramids.

However, antique paralles to arm symbolism is more likely found in principles deeply rooted in Hindu thought referable to Vedic faith tradtions (The Trimurti), or in Egyptian religion where hands or arms were often associated with rulers, divinities or the concept of soul and regeneration.

In ancient Egypt the sceptre or staff is one of the most ancient symbols of authority. The words "nobleman" and "official" both included the hieroglyph of a staff, so at an early stage the staff seems to have represented the authority of any person with significant power, not just the pharaoh. One of the oldest staffs discovered in Egypt was recovered from a pre-dynastic grave in El Omari, a neolithic site near Cairo. Geb, the Egyptian God of Earth, and father of Osiris, is often shown reclining on his side with an arm bent at the elbow. A description of the iconography of Geb occurs in Pyramid Text where we read that he holds "one arm to the sky and the other to the earth".

Such spiritual practice had originated in Old European culture as well, where the soul of the deceased was supplied with food through food offerings. Examples of Neolithic sanctuary models with a hole on top for votive offerings are not uncommon. The same feature in the form of a large round niche can be found on top of different types of stećaks. It means that stećaks can also be considered as an altar to feed the soul of the dead with both food offerings as sacred symbols.
▼ Neolithic votive temple with a hole at the top for votive offerings. Porodin, 6th millennium B.C.E.

▼ Example of stećak with large round votive niche at the top, Radovlje, Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Contradictory evidence against the hypothesis of a mediaeval origin of stećaks does not end here. Another problem that clearly emerged is related to human remains usually associated with these monuments. Although archaeological evidence has shown that a relevant number of stećaks have been placed indeed upon graves during the mediaeval period, in most other cases evidence suggests clearly the contrary. According to my personal experience and evidences that emerged during field research inside the Visoko valley, together with oral testimony of farmers who often move these monuments for agricultural purposes, examples of stećaks without human skeletal remains such as skulls, tigh-bones etc. surpass largely those where such remains are found. An explicit example of such evidence is presented hereafter.

▲ Examples of stećaks discovered during the construction work for a modern villa in Ginje, Kralupi Valley, Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Examples of parallelbipedal stećaks are seen on the left, while on the right side can be seen a recumbent stećak reposed on a stereobate.

It should be observed with particular attention that the pentagon embodies the physical order of the elements. If we stay on the mundane level we have Fire-Air-Water-Earth, and we can make it a cycle anticlockwise by returning from Fire to Earth across the horizontal line of the pentagon. Likewise, the pentagon includes the extension of the physical order, which inclusion of the ascent to the Spirit: Earth-Water-Air-Fire-Spirit by a anticlockwise circuit. In Pythagorean esoteric doctrine, among all other elements, Fire is considered the primary agent of change. In Physics, Fire corresponds to energy, whereas the other three Elements (Air, Water, Earth) correspond to states of matter. We must keep in mind, however, that these are just physical manifestations of the Four Elements, which are spiritual archetypes. According to the Pythagoreans, the belief that the soul of the deceased goes first to the nearest Fire, and from there to the stars, Moon, Sun, and finally to Heavenly Light, ante-dates even the Zoroastrian tradition. This path is mimicked in the symbolic death of initiation, which suggests that the soul must ascend through the Planetary Spheres before it can reach the Afterlife. However, before the soul can ascend through the spheres, it must be purified by Fire. One must descend into Darkness to find the source of Light; one must die in order to be reborn. Thus heroization occurs through an actual or symbolic death by Fire. This is because Fire is the purifiying element; it burns away the transient and imperfect, thereby freeing the soul and immortalizing it. Based on this idea it can be suggested that in Old Europe, as in the most ancient Vedic tradition, it was believed that the fire conveys the deceased to the heavenly realm.

By descent through the Crater of Rebirth, the initiate arrives at Axis Mundi [World Axis, or Axis Munde (lit. Axis of the Mound)], which gives simultaneous access to the Heavens and the Underworld. The World Axis is known from Egyptian and Mayan sacred texts as the trunk of the “Tree of Life”. Also, as already demonstrated in this paper, it is the symbol found on Old European artefacts, as well as on stećak monuments in various and countless artistic expressions.

The Celestial Fire mirrors the Central Fire as though in a higher octave. Empedocles teaches that the ultimate source of all Fire is Hades, and that the Central Fire is the source of all life, creation and destruction.
◄ Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun; Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina (with the famous artistic representation of the beam of light reaching the sky). “And so, the Solar Fire shoots to the Heavens and licks the stars.”
Empedocles

More precisely, the Central Fire is Tartaros, Zeus's Guard Tower (i.e. Phulakê Diós), which is below Hades (the Greek god of the Underworld). According to myth, after the Sun sets, it shines in Tartaros, the mythical Underworld. Therefore the Central Fire is known as the Dark Sun, the Black Sun, the Invisible Sun, the Subterranean Sun and the Volcanic Sun, and there is a paradoxical unity between the Sun and the Underworld (as encountered in Old European artifacts as well stećak monuments). The astrological symbol for the Sun represents the Fire at the center; also known as "The Fire in the Midlle" (from Greek pyramidos), The Pyramid. It becomes more than plausible to suggest that the Pythagorean Central Fire with its peculiarity of “invisibility” can be associated with the invisible and non-audible (ultrasound) energy beam of 28 kHz that shoots out of the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun towards the heavens, “where it becomes the essence of the stars”. This astonishing scientific evidence represents one of the great wonders born from the project of the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids, suggesting indeed that the Pythagorean Doctrine of Transmigration, and those of other ancient cultures, may well be true. If Empedocles and Heraclitus were alive, they surely would agree with me [emphasis added].

Conclusions
One of the main mistakes made by the representatives of the dogmatic stećak scholarship was that to prefer to identify and analyse the historical, artistic and religious phenomenon of stećaks in a more familiar context by giving clear preference to Western European culture as the alleged place of origin. The claim that stećaks represent religious monuments (tombstones) amenable to a common and exclusive tradition amongst Catholic, Orthodox and “Bosnian Church” followers alike is strongly disproved by the millennia-old archaeological evidence presented in this paper. A further indication of an imposed classification made by the dogmatic scholarship, beside that of basing the Christian origins of stećaks on a symbolism which represents the minority of ornamental motifs, is that to discredit a variety of symbols and motifs of pagan origin as an anomaly or unclassifiable surplus of marginal significance. Although there are numerous proofs that stećaks were used as gravestones of Orthodox Christians and Catholics, and even some indications that a discrete number of stećaks was produced during the Middle Ages, the reuse of many stećaks during the Middle Ages cannot be excluded a priori. The reuse of ancient monuments and building materials of earlier cultures is a common phenomenon observed in many places around the world. As a reference can be taken the reuse and repurposing of older monuments as building materials in Egyptian building projects. Karnak temple offers many interesting examples of this practice. It should be remembered that many stećaks were reused in recent times for the construction of contemporary buildings. The archaeological evidence availabale today examined in the contexts of architecture, religious art and ancient philosophical tradition has allowed to establish and expose a close relationship between millennia-old artefacts of the Old European continent, the stećak phenomenon, and the pyramids of Bosnia. Moreover, the analysis performed through different contextual concepts has allowed to close the sacred loop and fill necessary gaps to rejoin all the aforementioned elements with their "True Spirit", their ancestral origin. Many scholars have underestimated the millenia-old undying Spirit of Old European culture, the importance of the stećak phenomenon, and the pyramids of Bosnia. Differently from what we've been told, stećaks do not belong to the war mongering Churches of the Middle Ages, who burned people at the stake, which included many humble preachers of the Bogomil faith, whilst waging crusades against their doctrines.

Stećaks are not and must not be considered the cultural property of politically-oriented academicians or media, which are marely the results of a socially divided world, but are the cultural and spiritual inheritance of the borderless, peaceful and egalitarian world of Old Europe. In this very moment, the Light of Eternity of Old European culture shines through the veils of time more than ever before and, as Pythagoreans would paraphrase it: "It shoots to the Heavens and licks the stars".

GIMBUTAS, M. 1991 The Civilisation of the Goddess Harper. San Francisco

GIMBUTAS, M. 1989 The Language of the Goddess London GIMBUTAS, M. 1982 The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe: Myths and Cult Images Berkeley and Los Angeles, California NAUMOV, G. 2009 Visual and Conceptual Dynamism of Neolithic Altars in the Republic of Macedonia Skopje ČAUSIDIS, N. 2010 Neolithic Ceramic Figurines in the Shape of a Woman – House from the Republic of Macedonia Archaeopress Oxford ANTHONY D. & CHI J. 2010 The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley, 5.000 – 3.500 B.C.E Institute for the Study of the Ancient World New York – Princeton University Press

GARCES-FOLEY, K. 2006 Death and Religion in a Changing World M.E. Sharp Inc. New York